The four players to breadstick Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open as Jannik Sinner joins elite list

Shahida Jacobs
Jannik Sinner celebrates
Jannik Sinner ( ITA) during his tennis match

Jannik Sinner has joined an elite list of players to win a set 6-1 against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open with his feat coming during their 2024 semi-final clash.

Tipped by many to be the man to stop Djokovic from winning a record-extending 11th Australian Open trophy, Sinner produced a superb opening set as he broke in the second game of the match to race into a 3-0 lead.

The Italian broke the world No 1’s serve for the second time in game six and then served out the set to breadstick Djokovic by taking the set 6-1. Incredibly, Sinner hit four winners and made only three unforced errors compared to the 24-time Grand Slam winner’s five winners and 15 unforced errors.

In winning the set 6-1, the Italian became only the fourth player to pull off a feat that the likes of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick failed to achieve.

Former world No 1 Marat Safin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka are the other three players to have breadsticked Djokovic at Melbourne Park with Sinner the first player to pull off the milestone in a decade.

List of players to breadstick Djokovic at Australian Open

Jannik Sinner 2024

Fourth seed Sinner started the match against Djokovic high on confidence as he had won two of his last three matches against the 24-time Grand Slam winner with one coming at the 2023 ATP Finals and the other just a few weeks later at the Davis Cup.

And he proved those were no fluke as he stunned the defending champion 6-1 in the opening set while came close to achieving the feat in the second set as well as he won that one 6-2.

Djokovic saved a match point in the third set before Sinner secured a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 victory.

Stan Wawrinka 2013

Before Sinner pulled off the achievement, Wawrinka was the last player to win a set 6-1 against Djokovic and interestingly he is the only one of the first three not to win the match.

The pair met in the fourth round in 2013 and produced what many believe was one of the greatest matches of all time.

Much like Sinner, Wawrinka was quick out of the blocks as he won the opening set 6-1, but Djokovic had the last laugh as he came away with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 12-10 victory.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2010

Tenth seed Tsonga became only the second player to win a set 6-1 against Djokovic at Melbourne Park in 2010 and he pulled it off in the deciding tie-breaker in the quarter-final.

The Frenchman and the third-seeded Djokovic traded the opening two sets before the Serbian actually breadsticked his opponent in the third set.

After hitting back in the fourth set, Tsonga then won the fifth set 6-1 for a 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory.

Tsonga went on to lose in the semi-final against Roger Federer in straight sets.

Marat Safin 2005

The first time Djokovic was breadsticked at the Australian Open was during his Grand Slam debut in 2005 by former world No 1 Marat Safin.

After coming through qualifying, he was on the receiving end of a masterclass from the fourth seed as he was not only breadsticked, but also bagelled by the Russian.

Safin won the match 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 and went on to win the title with a four-set victory over Lleyton Hewitt in the final.

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